Lidl launches first television adverts as it targets middle class shoppers

Discount supermarket chain Lidl to advertise "Deluxe" range in the run-up to
Christmas

The discount supermarket chain Lidl is to launch its first television advertising campaign in the UK as it seeks to grab middle class shoppers from Britain's biggest food retailers such as Tesco and Sainsbury's.

The company is to promote Christmas food from its "Deluxe" range with an advert voiced by Harry Enfield and including background music from pop band One Direction.

Lidl's Deluxe brand includes a £5.99 cooked lobster, mini butter stollen for £1.99, a serrano ham for £39.99, and caviar, which it first sold last year, for £1.49.

The advert is the latest example of Lidl and its rival Aldi are trying to grab customers from Britain's biggest supermarkets.

Aldi and Lidl are the fastest growing food retailers in the UK, with Lidl sales up 14pc on a year ago according to Kantar.

Verdict, a retail research company, has calculated that last year that the proportion of Aldi's regular customers that are from the AB socioeconomic group, who are generally considered to be “middle class”, has risen from 12.9pc last year to 18.6pc.

Lidl said that sales of its Deluxe range have risen 50pc this year to £64m. The Deluxe brand was initially launched for Christmas products, but was expanded in 2012.

Ronny Gottschlich, the managing director of Lidl, said: "Our Deluxe products have proven to be our best selling, along with our Comte de Brismand champagne, which speaks volumes for what our customers want.

"We feel now is the time to fully showcase the quality of these products with the vast expansion of the range and the addition of many new fresh British products, including the fresh bronze Turkey.

"We’ve had a huge increase in the number of customers coming through our doors because people are realising that they don’t need to shop anywhere else for Christmas.“